Cahaba Wealth Management Inc. Increases Position in UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH)

Cahaba Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) by 0.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,884 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 25 shares during the quarter. Cahaba Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in UnitedHealth Group were worth $1,469,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 3.3% in the second quarter. Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC now owns 781 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $398,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A. lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 14.8% in the 2nd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 450,366 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $229,343,000 after buying an additional 58,014 shares during the period. North Star Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 14.8% during the second quarter. North Star Asset Management Inc. now owns 22,753 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $11,587,000 after buying an additional 2,938 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 13.6% in the second quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 68,705 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $34,989,000 after acquiring an additional 8,204 shares during the period. Finally, New York Life Investment Management LLC increased its position in UnitedHealth Group by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 141,339 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $71,978,000 after purchasing an additional 769 shares during the period. 87.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on UNH shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $595.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $481.00 to $647.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $525.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Baird R W raised shares of UnitedHealth Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $580.00 to $610.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $614.17.

UnitedHealth Group Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:UNH opened at $597.64 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $558.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $515.15. The stock has a market cap of $551.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.53, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.58. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated has a 52-week low of $436.38 and a 52-week high of $607.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $6.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.66 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $98.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $98.73 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.66% and a return on equity of 26.55%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $6.14 EPS. Equities analysts predict that UnitedHealth Group Incorporated will post 27.69 EPS for the current year.

UnitedHealth Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a $2.10 dividend. This represents a $8.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. UnitedHealth Group’s payout ratio is presently 51.34%.

Insider Transactions at UnitedHealth Group

In related news, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $579.03, for a total transaction of $868,545.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,785 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,507,748.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CAO Thomas E. Roos sold 2,851 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $569.88, for a total value of $1,624,727.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,501 shares in the company, valued at $16,812,029.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Erin Mcsweeney sold 1,500 shares of UnitedHealth Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $579.03, for a total transaction of $868,545.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,785 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,507,748.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.33% of the company’s stock.

About UnitedHealth Group

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated operates as a diversified health care company in the United States. The company operates through four segments: UnitedHealthcare, Optum Health, Optum Insight, and Optum Rx. The UnitedHealthcare segment offers consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services for national employers, public sector employers, mid-sized employers, small businesses, and individuals; health care coverage, and health and well-being services to individuals age 50 and older addressing their needs; Medicaid plans, children's health insurance and health care programs; and health and dental benefits, and hospital and clinical services, as well as health care benefits products and services to state programs caring for the economically disadvantaged, medically underserved, and those without the benefit of employer-funded health care coverage.